A monk and mage
by E.L. Ash
Summary: [It's me Erika Lania Ash]FE:TSS, this is a ArturxLute fic. Hope you like it. Oneshot.


A monk and mage

A/N: This is my Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones fic, my first one actually, so anyway, it's a LutexArtur fic that was in the back of my brain for a long time now and I just had to write it up. Anyway, it's also based on the support conversations they had, so expect me to take excerpts from there. This is several years after the battle with Lyon and the Demon King, when they got married. (They get married after the battle if they have level A support.). One more thing, this is a one-shot.

Warning: This fic might contain a few spoilers.

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.

Artur's POV

It's been a long time since the battle with the demon king ended; Lute and I are living happily in our hometown. I can still remember a lot of what had happened then. The fights we all had to forego, they were tiring at best but I soon got used to it. I can still remember what happened when I tried my best not to show my fatigue: Lute was always there to help, and after that, well, I always had a sort of affection for her, but the fights, the war we fought, I grew more fonder of her, and I had to tell her.

(Flashback)

We were at a skirmish battle, I still vividly recall everything that happened then.

Lute came up to me and said: "Are you tired Artur?". I looked at her, her face was placid and yet you could tell that she was concerned, her eyes defied her facial look and calm voice. "Huh...? Oh, no, I'm... ... You're right. I am tired." I looked at her curiously. "How could you tell, Lute? I was trying my best not to show it." I said.

"Oh please, there's no one better than me at spotting things like this! I can tell, you're mentally exhausted." She told me this, albeit a little smugly? Or maybe a bit arrogantly? Sometimes Lute is hard to read. I sighed slightly. Then I decided to confess. "I don't know what I expected, but...I had no idea war would be like this. One battle after another, overwhelming odds...and monsters? In this day and age, we're fighting monsters from the legends and epics? I know how much is at stake, but sometimes...I get so tired."

Lute just stood there, looking at me with a rather pitying expression, and then she said "When you're tired, there's nothing better than a good meal and a long sleep. And if you look at page 990 of "De Floris Mystics," there's a special herb that, once decocted into a potion, will help relax your muscles. Look for the parfina flower, and reduce it into a thick syrup before drinking. Oh, and I hear that music helps you sleep. I you like, I can hum something for you."

Now I was taken aback, she said all of this very fast, probably in just one breath, but her words couldn't have been clearer. Still looking at her, I shook my head and said: "Thank you. However, I think I'll pass on your offer, delightful though your humming must be. You must be tired as well. Take care of yourself, and rest when you can."

She looked back at me, and then she said: "I will. In fact, maybe I'll just hum to myself instead. Will you be alright?" she seemed to be concerned, but I just said "I'm fine. I feel quite refreshed, in fact." She looked at me curiously and said: "Refreshed? How so? Was it some kind of magic?"

"Perhaps, from a certain point of view. Your every word has nurtured my soul..." I replied simply.

"Hm. I'm not sure I get it, but as long as you're feeling better!" Lute said cheerfully. "Now that were done talking, let's go back to the fray!"

Lute left, and I was left to track the others down. Spotting Sir Cormag, I assisted him by taking out an archer poised to release his arrow. "Are you alright sir Cormag?" I asked him. "Don't worry about me Artur, focus on the enemies!" he shouted out. I gladly followed his words and concentrated on the enemies around us. Taking out the revenants and mogalls and other such beings, I was curious to see the battle would go on longer. Sir Cormag and I took out what was left in our vicinity, no other monsters was around so we surged forward and checked everywhere, there was no more monsters. We heard galloping, and expected it to be a Tavros or something else but it was merely the cavalier Franz, galloping the last few yards he stopped in front of us and told us that there were no more creatures and that what little left have seemingly fled.

With those words we regrouped and readied camp, for it was getting dark. Food was being cooked—fresh fish caught by Franz and other meat hunted by Neimi and Colm. In fact, both Neimi and Colm offered to cook the food, and lady Eirika and Sir Ephraim allowed them. Franz also pitched in to help.

While the food was being prepared, I went to find Sir Cormag, I wanted to talk to him about something.

And then I found him, he was talking to Sir Seth and Lord Duessel. "Sir Cormag, I'm sorry to intrude…" I spoke up. Duessel, Seth and he looked at me, and then Cormag excused himself from them. He led me to a private area but still near the group. Then he asked "What is it Artur? You looked rather troubled." I took a deep breath, and then I said "Well Sir Cormag, I'm not sure if it were to be called a real problem, but it has been bothering me for quite some time now, and I just had to ask someone I can trust about this matter…" I trailed off and looked at his eyes. He nodded and as I was about to open my mouth to speak again he said: "But Artur, if you would find someone to really entrust this problem of yours then wouldn't you be telling Lute instead, after all, you did tell me that Lute was your childhood friend and was also a classmate of yours in basic magic class, am I right? So why then are you choosing to tell me? Is it a man-to-man problem?"

I just looked at him and was quiet for a minute, and then I said, "Sir Cormag, have you ever been in love with a woman at all?" I was surprised at my own words; they just came out of the blue and then I looked down at the gravel I stood on immediately, refusing to look at whatever expression Sir Cormag might have on his face. "Artur…" I heard him say. I still did not want to meet his eyes, and so he decided to continue speaking. "Is this what it's all about? You're in love in Lute?" I nodded sullenly.

He just laughed. A long hearty laugh. And then he spoke once again. "I don't see why you make a mountain out of a molehill Artur. Why don't you just tell her exactly how you feel? Anyway, even if she doesn't like you back, well, just don't make it a big problem."

I just stared at him after those words. _Yes, why don't I just tell her? What's holding me back?_ I thought. Was it because she might not love, or at least like, me back? Or was it just nervousness. I pondered these thoughts for a moment when Sir Cormag broke my chain of thought, he said: "Artur, listen to me. No matter what she does or say after you have confessed to her, you will never know what her answer is going to be until you tell her, it's worth doing anything for love you know, I have been there myself. I told I girl that I once loved that I was in love with her. However she just smiled and said that she does not love me back, she said she was in love with a soldier of a much lower rank than me. But even if I was heartbroken, I also felt as if a great burden was lifted off my shoulders. At least I was able to tell her." "Sir Cormag, I…" I was actually shocked with what he told me, but I also found new strength, deep inside, I knew he was right; I have to tell Lute how I felt, no matter what the outcome.

Sensing that I learned a lot from what he said, he put an hand on my shoulder and smiled, the he said "Come on, let's go, Neimi, Colm and Franz are sure to have cooked up the food by now. As if on cue, Neimi started calling everyone. With one last smile at me, Cormag walked past me and proceeded to where Neimi was calling.

Next day we were trudging across a plain a few miles away from the Grado, heading to Jehanna, our next destination was Neleras Peak, to get there, we had to pass though Narube River, where we recently acquired a new comrade, a FalcoKnight by the name of Syrene, she was from Frelia, and was Vanessa's sister. As we passed through the plain and saw the Narube River, a Vanessa, Lady Tana and Syrene, along with Cormag, swooped down from the sky and reported to Lady Eirika and Ephraim something. From where I was, I couldn't hear what they were saying, but from the concerned look of the sky riders, there was evil afoot. There was a thick fog rolling in too. Ephraim ordered Colm and Rennac to take point and try to see through the fog. A battle was truly going to start.

(A/N: Sorry, I'm not that good at writing fight scenes, even if I were to write one, it'll probably ruin the story)

As the battle raged onward, I was curious to see Lute looking at something on the ground. I approached her and I saw the object of her attention—a type of insect, maybe a beetle. Walking nearer towards her I heard her mumble "Hm… I wonder if… Oh, I see."

Becoming more intrigued, I approached nearer towards her. "What are you doing Lute?" I questioned, to which she replied, "I was just observing this chemida beetle." I sighed and said:"You haven't changed at all, have you Lute?"

"What do you mean Artur?

"You spent most of your time sequestered in your room, studying your books, on the rare occasions you went outside, you were paralyzed with fascination." I told her.

"Of course! There are so many fascinating things to be learned from nature! There are many great books out there, and I have read most of them of course. But I've found that what is written can differ greatly from how things truly are. Take this chemida beetle for example. I've been reading from "The Gossary of Falibrian Entomology" lately. According to the glossary, their wings fall of once they reach maturity. However, I have just found an adult beetle whose wings still work perfectly! Exceptions do exist to the rules my books outline. This is a rare specimen. I wonder, should we take it back with us?" she was excited, I could tell.

I sighed yet again. And I told her this: "I hope this isn't another one of your pranks.

"My pranks?' she looked at me confused.

"Do you remember when I loaned you my copy of "Lux Aeterna?" You replaced my bookmark with the tail of a sedgel lizard. You scared ten years of my life, I swear it!"

"Did I do that?" she said surprised.

"And!" I continued, wanting to get everything out. "Knowing full well that I have a…mild…fear of spiders, you caught a small army of them and unleashed them in my room!"

"I thought…" Lute said, giving up her oblivious façade. "…that if I immersed you in the thing you feared, maybe you might be able to overcome your fear entirely! And I went to a lot of trouble trying to catch those spiders!"

I looked at her incredulously. Then I said "Why would you do that?"

She smiled, shifting from foot to foot she said "Well, I did get a bit of a kick out of the experience myself. Why? Did it bother you?"

"YES. It did Lute…… Oh. Don't worry about it. At least you did it because you cared about me, right? I'll just accept that as the best gesture of kindness you can manage Lute." I told her in a rush. She just shrugged and bent down to pick the chemida beetle up. "Oh. It's gone, oh well." She looked at the spot where the chemida beetle once stayed."

"Artur! Lute!"

We turned our heads and saw Lady Eirika rushing towards us. She looked harried.

"What happened? Are the both of you alright? Tana told me that she spotted you two stationary, she suspected one of you was hurt and the other was taking care of either one. So, are you alright?" she said all that in one breath.

"Don't worry about us Lady Eirika. The both of us are fine, we were just talking" I heard Lute say.

"I see. But still, you should not have done that while you were out here." Lady Eirika was concerned, but still grateful none of us were downed. She gave the both of us a quick nod and firmly said that she had to get back into the fray. "Best you two help us as well, we will need your magic." Were her final words to us.

"Well Artur." Lute said. "Tis' no time to dawdle, you heard lady Eirika, she will need our magic and of course, my intelligent mind." She promptly left after those words.

I sighed. I didn't even get to tell Lute about my feelings. _This will be harder than I thought. Sir Cormag made it sound easy, I wonder if he's leaving out a few details of how he actually told that girl that he loved her…_This was my line of thinking as I rushed to the battlefield. Taking out the Mogalls and Arch Mogalls, I spotted Lute taking care of a few revenants and a single Mauthe Doog.

The skirmish was over, and now it was time to proceed. It was rather uneventful for the next hours of the day. No monsters were appearing. By now, the fog had somewhat cleared so we were able to see well. By high noon it was scorching hot, so we found a grove of trees and rested there for a while.

By that time Sir Cormag came towards me and had a glint in his eyes. Wordlessly he beckoned me to follow him to another area, unlike our last meeting place, this one was rather far from the group.

"Sir Cormag." I started as we reached our destination. "Sir Cormag, what is it that you want?"

"Well Artur. I heard from Princess Tana that she spotted you earlier together with each other. She told Princess Eirika about it, and I managed to overhear. So now I want to ask you—Did you tell her how you felt?"

Somehow I knew that he would ask that question. I didn't know what to tell him though. I hope he didn't get disappointed with my next few words: "No, I wasn't able to tell her at all"

He didn't look to put out. In fact, just a small amount of disappointment crossed his face. Then he patted me on the shoulder and said: "Well… don't worry, you'll get another chance, you'll see. Just make sure to do it alright? It's not good to keep all your feelings welled up inside. You might later do something you might regret if you tell her too late." I looked up at him. He was actually smiling, but his smile was not really what you'd call a happy smile. But I just smiled back and thanked him.

A call came out in the far distance. Someone seemed to be saying that lunch was prepared, so Sir Cormag and I headed towards the main group.

As soon as lunch was over the group immediately collected their things and set of to Neleras Peak, at Prince Ephraim's orders. Everyone followed immediately, some albeit a little begrudgingly. And we were off.

Heading over to Neleras Peak. The smell of sulphur was in the air. In the font of the group Lady L'Arachel and Prince Ephraim were talking to each other. And then, we spotted a large amount of eggs. They were everywhere. They seemed to be coated with blood red veins. "It looks like a gorgon egg, don't you think Artur?" I realized that Lute was talking to me, and I nodded. "Yeah. In one of your books, it said that gorgon eggs were coated in blood red veins. " "Indeed, in Unit 7, chapter 3, page 163 of "The Fell beasts of The War of the Stones" the gorgons were snake haired creatures that has the power of petrification." Lute added.

We had to fight; it was inevitable. Steeling ourselves we charged.

I remember that Lute and I defeated a gorgon cooperatively. This was my chance to tell her. However, great chances, such as this one, were bound to be fouled up, and that is what happened. A gargoyle headed towards us, we combined anima and light and had it defeated after that.

I had to tell her now. Sir Cormag said that I might not like what I'll do if I were to tell it later. So right now I had to. The gargoyle we had defeated was dead of course, but the both of us had to pull back for we sustained some injuries. We headed towards the back, where Sister Natasha, Father Moulder and Princess L'Arachel were healing and curing other units. Waiting for our turn, I just had to tell her now. But I saw her preoccupied with something. So I said "Hello Lute. You seem to be preoccupied."

She was a bit startled, but she said. "Don't worry, I was just thinking about monsters."

"Monsters?" I asked.

"Yes. All these monsters are our enemies, I know, but… they're not all bad, are they?"

"What are you talking about?"

"They're kind of cute, don't you think? I mean, like those revenants, for example."

"Lute, it's fair to say that I will never understand your tastes. Besides, I thought you enjoyed using them as, well, magic practice."

"Oh, I do, I do indeed. I use my magic to rip them to shreds…with love of course."

"Your way of expressing love is somewhat frightening…"

"Do you think so? Thank you."

"No, that wasn't a compliment." I was starting to really get nervous. "…Should I, ah, expect you to attack me with magic too?" I asked her.

With a puzzled face, she said: "Hm? Why would I attack you with my magic?"

"You don't get it?" I responded, wishing that she did.

"No. Your strange logic baffles even my brilliant, brilliant mind. That's why I'm curious."

"Really? You don't get it?" I was really getting flustered.

"No. I don't!" she blurted.

"You really don't?"

"Stop that!"

"I'm just giving you a hard time, Lute. All right. I'll just come straight out and say it." _This is it!_ I thought.

"Finally!" she said.

"Well… it's because I, er, I like you!" _There! I said it. Um, kind of._ I thought to myself.

She looked shook up by what I said. "What?"

I gulped and told her the rest that I had to say. "In fact, I love you, and I'm hoping perhaps that you love me." _I actually said it!_

"Oh!" she was getting more worked up. "Oh!"

"Now do you understand?" I asked her, gaining more confidence by the minute.

"Er…" she started. "Um… A-according to "A Young Girl's Primer to Nazonian Magic," that most ancient tome long sought by, er, the terrible Demon King himself… it's not uncommon for a party to assign feelings of… er, love to the reanimated hordes they confront on the battlefield, and considering my incredible brain and remarkable skills I—

"Lute?" I cut in.

"Well that is…" she was getting really, really worked up. "What I mean is…"

"What's wrong with you?" I asked her. "I don't often see you lose your cool."

"That's because…"

"Yes?"

"Well, my books don't tell me anything about how to deal with love! So…"

I laughed. She was really funny; this is the side of Lute I don't often see. The side where she just gets flustered and actually has nothing to say.

"I'm sorry" I heard her apologize. "I'm a little out of my depth when it comes to love."

"No you're not." I reassured her. "Love needs no text books. Just be yourself, and listen to your feelings."

"Is…" she was a bit uncertain. "…that all I need to do?"

"I promise." I told her.

"…Er, excuse me…"

"Yes?"

"Well, er.."

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're here."

I smiled. "I am, too, Lute, I really am."

We were really close to each other, a bit too close. We were leaning involuntarily towards each other when—

"Next!" a voice called. It was Princess L'Arachel. She looked at us and said; "Thank goodness you two are the last, come along now. Let's heal you up and finish this battle."

We looked at each other. We said nothing, just smiled at each other, and went towards L'Arachel and the other healers.

Several days later, when the war finally ended, and the Demon King destroyed. We all went back to our homelands and such. I myself had to bid goodbye to those I knew, and when I was about to say goodbye to Sir Cormag, he brought me aside and said "Well. Did you tell her? I'm sorry for not asking before."

I smiled at him and said "Don't worry, I did. And she was happy, I guess."

He smiled at me and slapped me on the back. "Good Artur." He said. "I'm happy for you." And with that, he bade me goodbye, hoping to see me again. I said farewell too.

I went back to the village. Lute was there, under a small oak tree. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. I came nearer. Then she said: "Artur. I, don't really know what to say, but I've been thinking about what you said," I noticed that her whole demeanor had changed. "I wanted to say…" she continued. "That I love you too!"

I was really happy that she said that. We leaned in even closer and I kissed her fully on the lips. I really felt like I was in heaven.

(Flashback end) (A/N: Really long flashback, huh?)

Years later we were married, with 3 sons and a couple of daughters. And that's how we still are right now in the present time. Our love knows no bounds. And it will always stay that way.

The End

Author's note: Well, that's it, a bit anti-climactic maybe? I can't tell. Anyway. I hope that was enough to kick start everything. Besides, I've liked the ArturxLute paring for a long time. I also finished this in just two nights and an afternoon, so I guess you could say it was written spur-of-the-moment. Anyway please R and R alright? I want opinions, but I will not accept Flames, you got a flame to say, NEVERMIND, just keep the darn thing to yourself, okay? Well that's it. Hope you guys like it!


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